Bihar: Acid thrown on woman for resisting molestation

A 30-year-old woman suffered burn injuries on her face and other parts of the body when a rickshaw puller, thwarted in his bid to molest her, attacked her with acid.

The attack comes more than two months after the Supreme Court asked the state authorities to implement new rules to control over-the-counter sale of acids.

The incident took place early on Friday when the victim was sleeping on a platform at the Samastipur railway station in north Bihar, about 80 km from the state capital Patna.

The victim has been admitted to the Sadar hospital at Samastipur where her condition is stated to be stable. “Nearly 35% of her left side was burned in an acid attack, including her face, neck and arm. But there’s no immediate threat to her life,” said Dr PD Sharma at the hospital.

The victim was sleeping on the platform when a young man, later identified as Ganesh of Barheta in north Bihar’s Darbhanga district, tried to molest her. When she resisted, he attacked her with acid.

“He has been troubling me for the past week. On Friday morning, he tried to drag me towards a secluded place. When I refused to go with him, he poured something on me,” the woman said.

Seeing her writhing in pain, another rickshaw puller rushed her, also a resident of Darbhanga, to the hospital.

Samastipur deputy superintendent of rail police (DSRP) Sanjay Kumar Jha and station house officer of Government Rail Police (GRP) Rajesh Kumar Manjhi met the victim at the hospital.

“I have recorded her statement. But the sequence of events is not very clear. I am verifying the facts,” Jha said.

In March, the government also passed a law according to which a person convicted of an acid attack faces a minimum of 10 years in prison and maximum a life sentence.